70 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF THE 



guilty persons. Firewardens should be paid by their 

 respective counties. The plan of paying them according 

 to an hourly rate for time spent in the discharge of their 

 official duties has usually proved satisfactory. Since the 

 enforcement of a fire law will cause the improvement and 

 increase in value of property, the counties will find that the 

 small expense of maintainin-g a firewarden system will be 

 more than offset by the increased returns from taxes. 



Besides the forest firewarden in each county the sheriff, 

 deputy sheriffs, constables, marshals, justices of the peace, 

 and other officers of the State should be declared ex-officio 

 deputy firewardens, with power to enforce the laws and 

 arrest violators. 



Owners of timber land and associations of timber land 

 owners who desire special protection of their holdings from 

 fires should be allowed to recommend employees for ap- 

 pointment as deputy forest firewardens. Such officers 

 should be paid by their employers. 



APPENDIX. 



Suggested Forest Law. — The following law is suggested 

 as being applicable to conditions in Mississippi. It is based 

 chiefly on the recommendations given under "Needed Leg- 

 islation." 



Section i. Be it enacted by the Legislature of Missis- 

 sippi, That there is hereby created and established a State 

 Commission of Forestry to consist of the Governor, the 

 Attorney-General, the Commissioner of Agriculture, the 

 State Forester, the State Geologist, the Professor of For- 

 estry in the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 

 lege, and one practical lumberman engaged in the manu- 

 facture of lumber in this State, who shall be appointed by 

 the Governor to serve for a term of two years. The mem- 

 bers of said commission, with the exception of the State 

 Forester, provided for in Section 3 of this Act, shall serve 

 without compensation save for actual necessary expenses 

 incurred in the performance of their official duties as mem- 

 bers of this commission. 



